For those that have missed out, I have started an analytics series of me analysing each team in the top 30.
Part 1 - hltv.org/forums/threads/2264297/my-take-..
Part 2 - hltv.org/forums/threads/2272427/part-2-m..
So I will use the HLTV ranking from 2020-04-06 - hltv.org/ranking/teams/2020/april/6
I was supposed to do this after I made a few youtube videos but my cam is too bad and the COVID-19 lockdown have made it impossible to find ANY (good or bad) webcams in Sweden right now. So all vids will be on continued hiatus, as all my other content created.
TLDR; Don't read, Don't comment. This will be "a wall" of text!!!
This week WE got lucky, thanks to twitter.com/Aleksei_Lushni, to get this article about the HLTV ranking changes - hltv.org/news/29407/team-ranking-march-2..
I will use some of that info, but not talking too much about how the ranking works, but my prediction that it will change during 2020 is now confirmed from HLTV.
Last part was written during some matches, and those matches will be taken into consideration in this analysis.
1) Na'Vi Total points (860), Points change[-7], Points to leader {0}
Matches: Astralis 2-1, OG 2-1, Mousesports 0-2
Amazingly got 3 BO3 wins in a row against Astralis. But the match was weird. Astralis won first map 16-5. I can't stress this enough: Na'Vi needs to check their map pool, because the longer EPL continues, the less will they be able to rely on their "old" strats and on S1mple just doing S1mple things. Againt OG we saw him been taken out from Inferno for a long time. That match OG got more rounds than Na'Vi but Na'Vi won the maps. We also saw a comeback attempt from OG that was about 1 kill in an impact round to go through. I would say Na'Vi is one of the favorites to win EPL but they should have some headaches for each map they play now. Against Mousesports they just looked weak, except for some rounds here and there, which shows the brainier teams already have sorted them out.
2) Astralis (742), [+21], {118}
Matches: Na'Vi 1-2, Fnatic 1-2, FaZe 2-0
This is not the Astralis we're used to see and they are more or less out of EPL with 3 group games to go. But their match against Fnatic ended with 30 rounds in decider match, so at least something positive to go by. But we see indidual mistakes over and over again and besides Magisk we can't see the stability that has been synonymous with Astralis for a long time. Nearly choked against FaZe on map 1, but made it comfortable on 2nd map Overpass.
Still not talking too much about the future 6-man roster. But they now have a player that won't have ANY team pracc for nearly 3 months (see 25) Heroic).
Do you remember when they were unbeatable on Nuke? Or when they had over 80% on 4 or 5 maps? That's about a year ago and now they barely got any stable maps where the other tops teams are scared.
3) G2 (673), [+10], {187}
Matches: Mousesports 0-2
Had their EPL run cut short by getting comfortable. Had the promotino for Stage 2 in the bag and lost to OG and Mousesports. Got one of the widest map pools in the scene atm. But perhaps it is a bit stretched? What are the picks though? They usually lose their own pick and then win the other 2.
Their main issue seems to be team work. I haven't heard coms, but I guess that is the main issue. I believe they will grow stronger before next event.
4) Mousesports (638), [+27], {222}
Matches: G2 2-0, OG 2-0, FaZe 2-1, Na'Vi 2-0
Only lost 4 maps in EPL, 2 against FaZe and 2 against OG. Currently on a 6 match win streak. Even though they look shaky they win their matches somewhat decisively. The maps they've lost have been big losses, and the ones they've won have mainly been close affairs.
Their individual stats for EPL has been underwhelming and still they are among the favorites to win EPL s11 EU.
The longer time EPL have been going on the better their counters have been. They got some nice gimicky anti-smokes against different teams. Some new stuff for all the CSGO nerds, but don't forget Plopski was the first one with that clipping smoke on Nuke, and Björn Pers was the one who found it.
5) Fnatic (626), [+48], {234}
Matches: NiP 2-1, FaZe 2-1, Astralis 2-1, OG 1-2
16-2 loss on Overpass against NiP is the biggest map loss they've ever had when Golden has been part of the team. But to get back and win the other 2 maps was just amazing. It shows mental strength and winner mentality. The match against OG is the first decider map they've lost since the blunder against BIG. They've lost their own map pick 4 of 9 matches in EPL, and lost other maps that should be their strong maps. I say overconfidence is their biggest issue, combined with force buys (that usually only happens to confident players/teams). Each round feels like anything can happen, no matter if it is Fnatic on an eco, all full buys or fnatic on anti-eco. Brollan has dropped off significantly and they seem to have issues to get the whole team to steamroll enemies. It is usually just one or two players carry. we see Samuelsson take more and more timeouts to chill down his team and get them to do less risky plays.
A notion I made in the OG match: If you got one of the best Krieg players in the team, why don't you drop him the Krieg every round you get one? This just seems like the stupidity that made fans livid with Zeus about 2 years ago.
6) Liquid (501), [+15], {359}
Matches: Evil Geniuses 2-1
Won the biggest match of the EPL NA group. First map 30 rounds, 2nd map 29 rounds and 3rd map 2 OT's. In all 3 maps they were the first team to 14 rounds. I think Chokequid is back, but with enough experience to solve the issue. But them only playing NA teams in scrims and EPL must hurt them in the long run. Usually they boot camp in Europe as much as they can just to get decent practice games. But winning the group in EPL is good for them, it gives them confidence and a foundation for the rest of the season.
NAF and EliGE are on top of the stats board of EPL NA, while Stewie2k and Nitr0 both are below 1.0. Twistzz seems to have woke up and if he continues as he did against EG they most likely will win the playoffs without too much of a hassle.
7) Evil Geniuses (380), [+14], {490}
Matches: Furia 2-1, MIBR 2-1, Liquid 1-2
Dropping maps against both Furia and MIBR is a big warning sign for a team that should aim to be top 3 in the world. Having comeback attempts against Liquid is a good sign, but not winning that map 2-0 shows they don't got the winning mentality and the flow they had late summer/early fall last year.
Their Coach ImAPet left (or got kicked) for some weird reason. He brought in strong minds like Stanislaw and Tarik, and then get annoyed because they don't listen to him. What did he expect?
I expected this drop to happen a while ago, and I don't see it getting better. But there are some good coaches for free in the market right now. For instance: Zews lives in US and look for an NA org.
hltv.org/news/29392/official-imapet-leav..hltv.org/news/29393/imapet-no-secret-tha..hltv.org/forums/threads/2067034/nrg-now-..
Time to start petition to save ceRq, Brehze and Ethan?
They lost again on Mirage but FINALLY won on D2, twice. Now it is just 2 maps (29%) they got 0% win rate on.
8) 100 Thieves (355), [+1], {505}
Matches: Furia 1-2
Lost 16-4 on a map that they were considered best in the world on about 6 months ago. They just look tired. Perhaps there are some internal struggles or drama going on? Or they just hate playing online since the majority comes from OC. The owners will most likely not be happy about this and considering how much money they have invested they most likely expect a lot more than they get atm.
If you watch the individual stats in EPL it didn't look too bad, all were close to 1.00 or got above it in Rating2.0. Only one below 1.0 was AZR, the IGL, on 0.99. But they need to convert the rounds to map wins.
9) FaZe (323), [24], {537}
Matches: OG 2-0, ForZe 2-0, Fnatic 1-2, Mousesports 1-2, Astralis 0-2
Got a bit lucky with other results so they could qualify for stage 2 through decider match against ForZe. But they are quite good. But as I said in part 1 and part 2; they got no depth to win against the best teams in the world. With the new rules and the revised Road to Rio major qualifier I expect them to do a roster change as soon as they find a decent replacement for Olofmeister, because this roster is unbalanced atm. The rest of the team got more than 1.0 in EPL but he got 0.84 and is one of the worst rated players in the event. Currently called anchor for the wrong reasons.
I wanna go back to the map pool: they got 2 maps above 72% win rate past 3 months, and almost all their maps got dropping win rates. They need to hurry up to fix this or they might go 0-5 in this group stage.
Rumors on reddit say Broky is still on a trial contract with FaZe. If they don't sign him I expect him to go to a more structured team and become a real star.
Against Astralis their own map pick went to overtime. Just unnecessary. Too close games the few they win. After the overtime loss they lost 16-4 on Overpass. That is a combination of the same stuff I've been saying all time: They only got a few strats/ideas on a few maps, and they need to be in mood or nothing will happen. So losing a close map (like OT) just make them throw next map.
10) Vitality (311), [-1], {549}
Matches: OG 1-2
Lost their decider in a heartbraking BO3 that ended with the Revenge ace from NBK in a round Vitality should've had no issues winning. You can finally see where apEX strength and weakness come as an IGL. As a T-side caller he can't focus on his game and barely contribute at all as an individual, and the CT-side just comes natural to him where he top frags while still getting the team to play well.
The team will have some time now to reset, build teamplay and stratbook and find a map pool.
11) Furia (190), (+10), {670}
Matches: Evil Geniuses 1-2, Swole Patrol 0-2, 100 Thieves 2-1
Most likely the most stable team in EPL NA group stages, but ended up on 3rd place because of a close H2H results against Liquid and EG.
Should revise their map pool. Got a few days now to work on their Vertigo or Dust2. They used to be a really good Vertigo team earlier but that seems like an eterinty ago, and now got 0% on it past 3 months.
With a good result against their "big brother" in the Playoffs they have really cemented themselves as the real #1 Brazilian team. They already got 6-1-3 map record against MIBR and in current map pool they got higher win% on 4 maps. So with a good ban/pick they should win this 2-1.
12) NiP (186), [+7], {674}
Matches: Fnatic 1-2
Got the biggest map win anyone have had over the Golden boys. But the 2nd and 3rd maps were a walk-over. They didn't even put up a fight.
Got some good stuff (anti-strats, rotations, reads, calls) but got some horrible stuff as well (positions, roles, weapons). They've been juggling that AWP around in the team and still can't find anything solid. they need to pick either Nawwk or Twist and let them continue with it no matter how they feel. How can you gain confidence if people let you opt out of your responsibilities? Didn't get any CT gun rounds agaisnt Fnatic on Train before Twist got an M4 instead of an AWP and Lekr0 started to frag with the green cannon!
REZ is young, but when it comes to experience he is "old" in this roster and needs to be more reliable.
13) MAD Lions (182), [+15], {678}
Matches: c0ntact 2-0, FunPlusPhoenix 2-0
Currently on 12 map win streak and are among the favorites to win Flashpoint 1, and $500k prize. Really impressive considering they changed their IGL just days before the league started.
Currently got a map pool of 6 maps with 50% win rate or above. Might sound less impressive since most is from Flashpoint1, but when you look over the whole year: They've lost 7 BO3's this year, 3 times against Mousesports, once against HAVU, once gainst G2, once against Renegades and once against Evil Geniuses.
Give this roster time to continue doing what they're doing and they will climb the ranks. I wonder how well they'd be against some of the top 10 teams. The players are legit stars at the moment and they really work for eachother. They haven't lost to another Danish roster for 5 months. They got 3 players in the top 7 in Flashpoint 1 (#1 is Smooya who only played 2 maps), and Acilion, the new IGL got 1.00 rating over 16 maps.
14) OG (172), [28], {688}
Matches: Virtus.Pro 1-2, FaZe 0-2, Vitality 2-1, Mousesports 0-2, Na'Vi 1-2, Fnatic 2-1
Combining WO's, Stompings, combacks and chokes all together. You never know what to get. Some of the players have worked hard to bring back their individual level and it shows. They got multiple callers but you can see the confidence whenever aleksiB do a read.
But their day-to-day form is too weird, so you're not sure what you gonna get before the match is played. Got a wide map pool but really no depth. Can win on 6 maps, but still can lose on any map against any team. A few weeks off would probably help them a lot. Valde has been underwhelming but otherwise each player got some nice highlight clips. Mäntyy got some really nice plays and will most likely be rookie of the year (depending on how we cound Plopski and Broky).
Will most likely just end up with 1 win in stage 2. They weren't bad against Fnatic, since they won, but it was more like Fnatic losing while showing off, than OG winning by being better. They got knifed about 6 or 7 times in the same match.
15) Gen.G (149), [+5], {711}
Matches: MIBR 1-2, DIG 2-0, MIBR 0-2
Have only won against DIG and Envy in Flashpoint 1. Koosta might have the best form of his career and hard carries the team, but sadly can't win them the maps/mathces alone. The two star players s0m and BnTeT have been underwhelming and got around 1.0 Rating2.0 in Flashpoint 1. They were the first top 15 team that lost to MIBR in 120 or more days, and now they've lost to MIBR 3 times.
Their two best maps are the two they ban the most.
16) Godsent (138), [-1], {722}
Matches: No matches
Got a few weeks before their next match so they can work on their team play and their map pool. Only got 4 maps with 50% or more win rate past 3 months, and have played all 7, so they need to work out their map picks and vetos. Have been horrible in utility usage and opening kills past 3 months. Is it because they ranked up so quickly they got into events they're not ready for or is it because they don't really got structure right now?
All players are average or below past 3 months.
Lets just say they got a "huge potential for improvement" - to put it nicely. Got two online events comming soon, Road To Rio Europe and Loot.Bet s6 playoffs. They should use Loot.Bet sort of like serious scrimms.
17) BIG (134), [+12], {726}
Matches: Syman 1-0, SMASH 2-0
Got an easy group in Home Sweet Home Cup, presented by GRID hltv.org/news/29299/homesweethome-tourna..
Won their group without breaking a sweat. Anything but semi-finals would be a huge disappointment for the roster. Both TabseN and Xantares got 1.70 or above against these lower tier teams, while TiziaN still got a horrible individual rating even though they stomped on the two teams. Seems like they need to find a replacement for him sooner rather than later.
18) Virtus.Pro (131), [+16], {729}
Matches: OG 2-1, TyLoo 2-0
Won against OG in one of the weakest games we've seen OG play and then securing $7000 just by winning over TyLoo, which is most welcome. A lot of rumors have started now with the new road to rio and with AdreN not changing ANYTHING after becoming IGL. The same mistakes are made, the players still do the same thing. Sure, he haven't had too much time getting his ideas into the team, as an IGL. But I don't see anything happening and perhaps they can pick up any of the old HR players instead of AdreN and give any of the current VP-players the IGL role. SANJI still is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players in the scene, perhaps he could call while being this amazing support player for VP?
Starting their rough group in Home Sweet Home Cup on Friday. They need to go through the group AND go far in the Parimatch League the week after, or there need to be some rash decisions made from the ORG. hltv.org/news/29345/starladder-partners-..hltv.org/news/29379/hellraisers-bench-te..
19) MIBR (124), [+25], {736}
Matches: Gen.G 2-0, Evil Geniuses 1-2, Swole Patrol 2-0, Gen.G 2-0
Seems to have found some sort of confidence in the roster and some sort of form, even though it is against teams in free fall or without form foundation. It helps them finally find some strengths and weaknesses that they can work on, and getting through to playoffs both in Flashpoint 1 and EPL NA make them finally live up to some sort of expectations. But they got their nemisis in Furia in NA EPL. But thankfully they meet Orgless in the Flashpoint quarterfinals. Lets just hope for the kNgV- vs FNS match again! It is just fun to watch.
Nearly 2 weeks without Zews as a coach. Is this one of the reasons for improvement? Or did they even improve or are the other teams just below their class? Probably the NA team who have been blessed by this season moving to online. Getting their EPL spot back and don't having to play against too tactical teams.
20) CompLexity (118), [-32], {742}
Matches: none
Still split up over Europe, but hopefully they got possibility to practice in a good environment and get some EU scrims before their next match in Road to Rio EU that starts in about 2 weeks.
I have earlier said that I want them to start by changing coach, they can keep Keita if they want but they need someone else, but since their facilities are in Dallas and the players are now in Bulgaria, Denmark and Malta makes it smartest to just let Keita stay until they can get back to Dallas.
I saw an interview with RUSH not too long ago and he seems to be at good vigor, but what about oBo? The young kid haven't travelled much but is currently stuck in lockdown in Malta for indefinite time. Hopefully they can keep him happy, because he has been underperforming for a while and being away from home for 6 months or more will be an issue for him.
Maybe they have to try and find a way for him to go home to US and use a stand-in during the Road to Rio? I hope ESL and Valve would let them use a standin for a while and then let oBo come back for the major, if they would qualify.
If the Europeans wouldn't have gone home 2-3 weeks ago I'd say they would be one of the teams who benefited the most because of the COVID-19 issues. But now I think they don't benefit much at all. Perhaps RUSH can help oBo but besides that there isn't much improvement team wise to be expected.
21) ForZe (118), [+4], {742}
Matches: FaZe 0-2
I have praised Jerry and ForZe before, but they lost this match during the map pick. As I have tried to hammer into the few readers I have, FaZe only got 3 maps. So why pick into it? They let FaZe play on their 2 strongest maps instead of playing some map they are uncomfortable on! They got smashed and got 14 rounds in 2 maps, 4 of which on your own map pick.
I started to think about what would happen if Jerry left. But I think actually at least one player would improve under some other IGL. Almazer looks like he got so much more CS in him than he can get out of this roster. Perhaps that's something ForZe should try to change now that they got some simpler tasks ahead of them in Home Sweet Home Cup, Loot.Bet Season 6 playoffs, Parimatch LEague to get ready for Road to Rio CIS.
22) ENCE (114), [+1], {746}
Matches: None
What can you even do at this stage? You got the team you asked for but not the results. What can you actually do? Thorin said he wanted sAw to be picked up by ENCE if they wanna change trajectory, but he is far from the type of IGL they want, need or care for. He might turn the ship around, but in a few months they'd most likely kick him, and he got horrible individual skills. Not exactly AleksiB.
Got nothing until Road to Rio EU that starts in about 2 weeks. Considering how stacked that event is I doubt they will get out of it with more than one match win, if even that.
Should try to go for online leagues/cups now that HLTV have changed their ranking and will do it again soon.
23) North (114), [+7], {746}
Matches: none
Introduced into Home Sweet Home Cup on Thursday. They should win their group without any issues, even though they start on a BO1 against Sprout (most likely toughest oponent).
I guess they give this roster until Road To Rio EU in 2 weeks, if they don't get far enough in that event they will start doing some changes to their roster.
Considering the current situation in the world I think North are quite good at picking up almost anyone they want except for MAD Lions, Heroic Trio and Astralis players. CajunB is most likely the one who have to leave.
They actually got a decent map pool right now, so perhaps they can solve their issus by just praccing hard.
24) Spirit (106), [+9], {754}
Matches: SMASH 0-1, Syman 2-1, SMASH 2-1
Had some issues to get out of a group they should have taken in their sleep. To not meet BIG in the same group is just weird, everyone expected those two to be in the group final.
After losing 16-5 against SMASH earlier today, you think that would be their ban in the rematch, but no, they let SMASH pick it and SMASH won 16-4. The other two maps were decisive in favor of Spirit though, and similar story against Syman.
Their Mirage seems good and they also got huge win on Nuke and a somewhat comfortable win on Overpass.
Have played each map at least 4 times past 3 months, and got 50% on more wins on 6 out of the 7. With Crush and Ange1 leaving HR they might wanna get one of them as coach insteado of Certus, who have been coach since 2016.
25) Heroic (100), [-34], {760}
Matches: none
hltv.org/news/29398/heroic-bench-es3tag-.. - this is important to get why they dropped 7 ranks and 34 points this week. So Es3tag will become 6th player for Astralis and Heroic decided that they rather build a new team without him and start now rather than start in 3 months, or redo it in July.
I have some indication that it is one you player (haven't figured out who yet) and the Swedish Dennis that will sign for the team. Most likely already signed but no announcement for a few days, maybe even weeks. I could be wrong but I have been hinted that it is these two players they've signed.
Cadian will be IGL and depending on who the young player is, also the AWP:er. He has said he wanna be a bit like FalleN was back in 2016. Cadian have been quite open in interviews with Danish TV and Blast Premier, but you need to read between the lines of what he say because the interviews was made a few days before it was public knowledge Snappit also got benched. This while FPX, Heroic, Astralis, Es3tag saga is so big that I can't go through it right now.
But I think Heroic somehow makes the right choice right now while still making a mistake at the same time with the same decision.
We'll see the new roster in about 2.5-3 weeks, so that's why I think they already got the players signed. Playoffs in Loot.Bet s6
26) Renegades (90), [+5], {770}
Matches: none
Fun story: They will play two different qualifiers, in a row, for the same Major.
Most likely one of the biggest losers because of this quarantine time. They started to improve and finally got some stability in the roster, but currently they can't scrimm against anyone but other Aussie teams.
27) c0ntact (88), [-2], {772}
Matches: MAD Lions 0-2, FunPlus Phoenix (BadNewsBear) 1-2
Rematch against MAD Lions was a real improvement but still a 2-0 loss, which is rough since 2nd map was a quadruple overtime. Eliminated from Flashpoint 1 before Playoffs can only be called a huge disappointment, even though they played with a stand-in.
During Flashpoint 1 all but Emi (the former coach) had 1.05 or above Rating2.0 across 15 maps, of which they won 6. We'll see what will happen in the future, but perhaps they can sign Rallen as a permanent Lurker, let Letn1 be IGL again and let Emi be coach, since their current coach (Neil_M) rarely stay for more than a few months in each team.
28) HAVU (76), [+18], {784}
Matches: Cloud9 2-0
Definitely one of the biggest positive things about Flashpoint 1. Got 10-4 in maps in both groups. Got the third highest points in the whole event, even though they met MAD Lions (huge favorites) twice. Will meet CHAOS in the quarterfinals.
Expect them to skyrocket to top 20 thanks to placement points when Flashpoin1 is over.
29) Cloud9 (72), [+9], {788}
Matches: ENVY 2-1, HAVU 0-2
During Flashpoint they should've realized they got a smaller map pool than they had a few months ago. They should start out with playing Overpass, Train and Dust2 only during the playoff of Flashpoint.
They also need to find out what is up with Sonic. Even though C9 have won their group in phase 1 and came 2nd in their group in stage 2, he only have 1.00 rating in 18 maps.
Will meet Gen.G in a grudge-match in the playoffs.
30) TyLoo (57), [+2], {803}
Matches: Virtus.Pro 0-2
Sure, they had one of the tougher groups of EPL EU, but they got 1 map in 5 BO3. That is kinda underwhelming since they've been in EU and scrimming against EU and CIS oponents for 4 months or more.
Are going to play Road To Rio Asia, but currently resides in Kiev, so I am not sure if they will go to their old gaming house/office just for a few weeks or if they will move back there in these weird times. Hard to know. But they need to play matches to stay top 30 because BadNewsBears only is 2 points behind but are qualified for playoffs in Flashpoint 1.

Seems like people who took the time to read it, enjoyed it.
And I don't write for others, I do these analysis no matter if I write it down or not. I just write and share it here to get other people to do similar stuff, and to spark discussions.
I am too fucking tired of the shit threads on HLTV so I try to civilize the forums.

you actually think im going to bother to find your old comment? and maybe watch a game you wanna see or even all three, fuck off and go on with your life instead of writing 4000 word essays on hltv that very few people give a fuck about
put all that effort into something actually useful

Productive
"resulting in or providing a large amount or supply of something"
I wanna say what I did resulted in a large amount of words, analyses and reactions.
Therefore it was productive
Cambridge dictionary seems to agree with me

Dude needs to take that hand off from your anus and go and do those more productive things yourself instead of trying to shame others in hltv forums. If he wants to and has the time to do these then its his business.

watched it now, didn't say anything. Only thing I got out of it is that Broky goes for kills before calling out. You can see that the reactioins to what Broky see is not reacted to until after he lost the fight.
So some help at least, but not helping me reading G2's issues.
I also heard that Jackz switch to french when nexa and hunter is dead, while AmanEk and KennyS keep it in English.

‘Faze only have 3 maps'
They’re good on Nuke, D2 and Mirage - that’s a given. But they also have looked decent on Train this EPL so far (lost 2 close maps to Mouz/G2 but then stomped Mouz yesterday). Their inferno is inconsistent but can be dominant (see vs Forze). Overpass and Vertigo are both horrible for them I’ll agree.

You can see that this is part 3, so I've gone through their stats and how it evolves over time. It is just simplified version of what I look at because I am already in bed and didn't wanna make the full thing again.
But I click in on almost every game and check results and round for round scores.

back at computer now.
I think FaZe are great on Inferno and Nuke and decent on D2 and Mirage. But they rely on the same plays working out over and over again. it is like they abuse something in the meta positioning and as soon as that is "fixed" they won't be able to do it again.

Just saying what if FaZe kicked olof to pick up Rez?
He is a great player and FaZe is an org who is more than willing to pay for him
He's good individually and he's more of an actual lurker than NiKo, so I honestly think this is a possibility but if NiKo continues to IGL, he needs reliable players who don't particularly need to be skilled but enough to position and execute enemies properly, which is exactly what Rez is

I don't think NiP would let him go, and we've seen that he drops out of maps when he gets too much responsibilities on his shoulders. Doesn't really perform well under certain type of pressure that is unavoidable in Faze.
Nah, unless they go for a Broky kinda deal (Maden perhaps?) I wanna see them go for a calm player that can complement NiKo and help him out with building up a strat book.
Someone with the experience like Snappi or Dennis but with more firepower.

You're right actually they wouldn't get maden but they have other great talent up for grabs like maybe kreaz or like Teses, maybe even borup or acor (if it's acor they have an AWPER now meaning broky could be the NiKo complement)

I think niko would be a good addition. Not for firepower but for experience, youth, hunger, role play, team focus and calmness.
Or they could go for Hampus. A diva that would fit with NiKo and Coldzera that can lurk the map and frag out against the best.
Pr they could go for another rout than they have for the past 3-4years. Just build a strat around the 4 existing player and an imaginary player and then try to find a player that fit the 5th part.

I like the analysis on MIBR
The moment Zews left the team, their results started to improve. They had a couple wins before the announcement that Zews had left, but they had played without him already, so maybe zews was indeed the problem

Nah, Zews was in the gaming room the day before he left. You could see him in the background during a live interview with Taco.
I don't think that's the reason. Sure having Death in your ear might help, but I think it just is because they meet teams that are 15th or lower in the world.

he's still in the gaming house with all of the players because of Coronavirus (plus he has nowhere to go)
And Zews didn't leave out of the blue, there were some people saying that he would leave because he hadn't joined the server for the last couple of matches. So he most likely didn't coach at the time

I dont have a lot to say about it. Ive read it, and Ill say this: coL will probably be hurt the most with this whole corona thing. To memory, they don't do on well online at all. They and Ence will probably drop off a lot during this lockdown, but I hope coL can regroup and come back and break in to the top 15 in a few months.
Their lineup is very promising imo.

I think this lockdown can either make or break their roster. Not sure what direction yet. But imagine a young gun promising talent as oBo being more or less forced to learn all RUSH knows, could be good. Question is if he can take it as he is young and have been away from home for a long time.
What happens if he gets home sick?
I think Liquid is one of the teams hurting most by the lockdown since they no longer can scrim with good teams. 100 Thieves and EG look awful at the moment and who else will they scrim against?
To me ENCE will neither benefit nor lose from the lockdown since they were shit before, and shit during. What can happen to them during the lockdown that wouldn't happen to them in an open circuit?

No dreams of being a writer. If so I would just apply to the junior writer apprentice here on HLTV or ask Ryan at Rush B Media for a job.
Nah, I ena do youtube/twitch analysis but my cam is not working.

I used to stream a few years ago but living sitauation have taken that away from me so now I just focus on analysing pro csgo.
I do whether or not I am writing, making a YouTube video or nothing at all.
But then I can make it a bit creatively and share it so other can get some inspiration and hopefully also start a discussion so I can see stuff I previously have missed

Very great, I like writing too and I don't hide that I wish it will turn into something serious. I'm making it though. I'm writing songs. Already have written well above 200. Some of which are already recorded and awaiting my vocals. I also wrote poems and different stories. I'm 23 and I'm full of ideas. Writing is a great hobby. Wish you well upon this uneasy way.

Not my ranking I just put my thoughts to the current HLTV rankings, how they evolve as teams, what they've done for the past week, what we can expect from them and so on.
Did you read it all?
Regarding BIG: they now got an event where they should win, or at least get far, whilst still improve their play book.

thanks. Yeah, I got these ideas and do this no matter what. Why not just put it into writing and try to get the HLTV forum a bit more civilized and serious?
The points I would love people to read is CoL and Heroic, since those are the most personal takes from me.
I actually wanted to make this just to show upcoming top 30 teams, but it is hard to break into top 30 with so few matches now, but the revamped ranking system might help some teams. For instance: Next week we can expect FPX/BadNewsBears to be in #30 instead of TyLoo

c0ntact got a coach that never achieved anything and still gets work left and right. Their current roster is a mix of good and bad players without any structure. They now got 2-2.5 weeks to get back to europe and revise their approach for Road to Rio EU. If they don't do any roster changes we can expect them to be one of the bottom teams.
I think Rallen has played well for them, but not really enough for the roster since all others seems shit when Letn1 isn't there.

i just dont think the current roster really meshes well. imo the only thing that could help them is to replace emi with some kind of glue like player like karrigan, but ofc cheaper and less skilled than him. and after the major is over they could kick letn1 and get rallen

I actually think this could work by keeping Rallen and let Emi go back to coaching. Letn1 was a good IGL before and I was surprised they changed him for nexa/huNter, but seems to have worked out well for everyone.
Emi don't got the mechanical skill and reaction time to play on the level that c0ntact should aspire to play at. They are a Flashpoint 1 partner and just lost their Rio spot, so they got a good oportunity to rebuild their team.

what better IGL could you find that can get these mix of misfits to work together?
Snappi perhaps now that he is benched in Heroic.
Everyone lost their Major spots, including Astralis.
hltv.org/news/29377/valve-scraps-invites..

yh i know that everyone lost spots i just kinda zoned out lol
if i would have a free agents list then i would know some, but snappi is a good choice. if they want to keep the serbian vibe going they could get impulse. they could get ange1. neo, hunden and alex are all very unlikely to join, but its possible

neo is in his own project, Ange1 is not good anymore, Hunden is still in MAD Lions and most likely will be an analyst for them, ALEX will most likely not comeback, and if he did I kinda wish it would be in FaZe.
I don't know impulse.
I think Snappi is the best IGL on the market right now, depending on how you view the quarantine and stuff, otherwise I would pay all I can to get dexter.

they're still relatively new as a team. i only think that jackz needs to get more confidence in his english.
i watched this video youtube.com/watch?v=hGP4XqzwANk and their comms in some situation sound like my mg premade

yeah, that's the video I watched as well. It was mentioned in comment #4 already, so had to watch it. Didn't get much out of it.
Most people say it takes 3 months before we can assess a teams potential. This roster have had 6.5 months together. Sure JackZ english isn't optimal, but it is much better than it was a few months ago. I remember him in CS_Summit 5. His English was almost as good as KennyS' but he doesn't feel comfortable in it, as you mention.
But I don't think that's the issue. I think their CT side is the issue but can't pin-point what is the issue. Perhaps just that nexa and hunTer needs AK/SG553 to get those crispy kills?

My coments is not number analysis is more like overall observations:
NA'VI needs more consistancy on Boombl4 When he plays well NA'VI wins when Boombl4 plays bad NA'VI loses, I know that s1mple is the best player on the team (by faaaar) but he alone can not carry that much dead weight.
Astralis: Astralis fan have to thanks Faze and Coldzera, everytime Astralis is starting to fall Cold comes taunting and Astralis resurges. I love cold but Dev1ce killing cold shoting the body changing guns and shooting more, stoping the defuse to shoot more gives more energy to all Astralis players
G2: In Top 5 I think the only roster who needs a change is G2, JacKz Holding G2 to give the next step, IDK somebody to replace him so I understand why he is still there but if G2 wants to arrive in major being one of the favorites I think is necessary to do this change.
Mouz: The most intersting CS in the world right now is simple and effective I wouldn't be surprised if they win EPL EU again (they won the finals 2019) And they should be 3 in rankings now...
Fnatic: I think this is the most consistent team in cenario right now, the world is a better place when fnatic is relevant, and they did it keeping the base players, Brollan is marked with the kriegger thing but he is delivering everything he has to i think he deserves a little more love
100T Who watched EPL NA saw that 100T does not deserve to be in top 10 of the ranking, JKS and JKaem is the only players there who know what they're doing Gratisfaction is an ok Awp AZR is too unconsistent and Liazz must be a cool guy to hang with.
Faze: I need to know what is the real faze That galatic superteam who won Blast group or this toxic team who taunts more than they can handle... Cold needs to understand that faze is not mibr, they need that the players think on the same direction... To prove that they can be a top 5 team: right now they just won the first map against NA'VI, if they keep focus they can win the series...
Furia: If they beat mibr they will be on Top 10. They already proved everybody that their are the n° 1 team in BR now, even if they lose tomorow this won't change.
OG: If the world was fair this team would be called renegades,
Aleskib > ENCE
NBK > VItality (Vitality still upper but that will change in a couple of weeks)
ISSAA > Hell Raisers (F)
Valde > North
This roster needs only more consistancy to keep climbing the ranks
mibr: Finaly they started a winning streak, yeah they are beating tier 2 and 3 teams, but 2019 they couldn't beat even those teams so we're evolving, I put them as the favorites to win Flashpoint, if they keep playing like this of course. KnGv finaly started playing like he was on INTZ, TACO is starting to regain his trust back and seems to be trainning more hard (He said he was having problems trainning a few time ago)
CoL: They're in the right way, the path have ups and downs, maybe they'll not became a juggernault but they are not a joke anymore that's progress...
Heroic: Is the saddest story I've seen happen to a roster in such a short time, but they did the right thing, Cut es3tag bring TeSeS and focus on building a new roster to start all over again

Na'Vi is a tough one to crack because they can be among the best peak teams in the world... And at the same time not get far in events.
I think they just need time and I think they currently got the roles and platers needed for the system to work. Now it's just up to the players to perform.
Astralis seem to only perform with their backs against the ropes atm. Not sure why. But it seems like the mental part of the game helps them out a lot.
I doubt they will relieve Jackz from the roster when they're doing fine. Sure dropping out in EPL stage 1 could be considered underperforming but it was closest margin possible. huNter and nexa sand his praises on Blast sessions about a week ago. Check it out, great content.
They just need to get better at communication and solve the structural issues they got on CT side.
I would say it is between Mousesports, Fnatic and Na'Vi. All got their own pros and cons for winning. Maybe Astralis can but they got a rough way to get there.
Amazing roster where all got a part to play and they do it well. Imagine this roster was rumored to break up in October.
I think they get robbed on rounds here and there due to ping issues.
The way they lose is actually a positive thing. Can't really go into it now due to time restrictions. But might bring it up in the future.
They also are extremely overconfident and that is a negative but when they just focus they win convincingly like they did earlier today.
They are better than past months results have proved. Lack of competition might be the reason.
I actually think that Coldzera is the biggest reason Faze pulled their socks up. His experience and will to win is what makes NiKo's handfull of strats work, why Olof meister and Rain are back in 2018 form (sadly not 2917 form) and I wouldn't be surprised if he sometimes do some midround calling.
I agree about Furia. But it feels like 2 different rosters put together right now. Won't be an issue as long as they get results. But what will happen if they don't get their results in a few events?
Regarding OG. I think we'll see them climb more and more. They finally found roles and a system they all seem to be fully confident in.
MIBR most likely just win because they meet lesser oponents and get some confidence to build their foundation and playing more maps than anyone else builds the strat book and teamplay and timing more than the same times of bootcamp.
Only issues with CoL is the coach and BlameF's midround calling. Thankfully for them Rush have been stepping up individually and taken the real responsibility of a true veteran.
I believe oBo either will grow a lot as an adult or break as a player during this long time in isolation where he only will meet Rush and one or two other people from the org
Heroic: sad in some ways but thry seem to find some good workaround

Only 1 coment, I Think I sad it in a confuse way
Coldzera helped faze a lot!! They would have dropped top 10 4 sure if he wasn't there
But since Blast when he fight with Stew he lost it, he's fighting more than playing, and that worked in mibr (In prime times) cause they got in that hype but will not work with Olof and Rain they're too classy now a days 4 that but Faze needs cold a lot!!
Last question:
In your opinion Who wins EPL EU and EPL NA
To me Fnatic and Furia

Could be because that shit talk actually affected players back in the day but today only emotional wrecks get it going?
Was someone who a few days ago didn't even notice the BM some oponent used during the game.
Too much professionalism in CSGO to let the "older" Brazilians keep their legends status.
EU Fnatic, Mousesports or Navi. Can't tell right now. Rest of the event will be up to day form.
NA anything but Liquid would be close to an embarassment

"Too much professionalism in CSGO to let the "older" Brazilians keep their legends status."
THIS SENTENCE DEFINES THE PROBLEMS OF MIBR (and Cold)
They have to reinvent their self or they will disapeer.
Like you said Chokequid is back and I bet they won't pass EG...

Just look at Brazilians that play footbal/Soccer in Italy. They bloat up because they aren't professional enough to train enough for their food habits.
Smae goes for BM in the csgo scene. They can deal BM but got fragile egos that faltures under pressure and will react too much when people trigger them. Same with NiKo for some weird reason.
EG just got rid of the only thing keeping them afloat. Let's just wait for the team to drop and the stars trying to flea

Actually it might be bad to have them as a coach. My guess on why MIBR is underperforming is because of the culture within the team and that culture won't change with them attached to the roster/team.
So perhaps Dwath is the best they got.
They need a new IGL and most likely Fwlps as well. How come he can perform everywhere except in FalleN's system?

Ok I will try to make the story short: they had eso many issues for a long time. Even back when they were #1 in the world they still had issues but they ignored them and all was honky dory. Just sweep it under the rug.
When they fell from grace these issues just became stronger and they thought they could change it by exchanging the 5th, and some times even the 4th.
The issues just kept getting worse and worse and after adding Lucas1 Coldzera had enough.